The Biters
by ravyncoldfthr
Summary: A/U Clementine is an average 18 year old girl. She is a recent high school graduate, vacationing in Mackinac when the outbreak begins. Now she and her friends must fight their way to what's left of their homes. I changed the location to Michigan because that's the area I personally know best. Also, my first publish, so please don't be too harsh. Rated T just to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

It all started on a sunny afternoon at the beach. No one saw it coming. Who would with a beautiful day like that? But it happened just the same. The five of us saw the man roaming the beach, growling at random people. We had no idea just how dangerous he would come to be. We sat and watched in horror as he bit the face off a sunbather near us. As he headed our way, we stood up, screaming. Paul grabbed the umbrella we were using and hit the man over the head with it. It didn't even seem to faze the man, as he continued toward us. We ran as fast as we could toward the Jeep, but the man followed behind quickly. Josh turned to fight him off. The man went for Josh like he was a starved lion. Josh put his arm up to defend himself and the man bit into his arm. "Ahh!" he screamed, "Get this crazy dude off me!" By this time, we'd all loaded into the Jeep Grand Cherokee my father had bought me as a graduation gift. Paul reached behind the seat and grabbed the tire iron off the floor board. He jumped out and ran towards Josh and the strange, ravenous man. He swung the tire iron over the mans back. It was just enough to stun the man, causing him to release Josh's arm. "Josh! Hurry! Get in" his girlfriend Rose screamed at him. He and Paul ran to the Jeep and jumped in. "Get us the hell out of here!" Josh demanded. I was sitting in the front passenger seat. I looked behind me towards Josh. There was a lot of blood! I looked at my boyfriend, Paul and said, "Maybe we should take him to the hospital! He's really bleeding back there!" "I'm fine! That dude bit me pretty hard, but I'm fine! No hospitals!" Paul turned on the radio. Only there was nothing but static. He switched from station to station, but nothing. "Ok, what the hell is going on?" I asked, looking to Paul. He looked just as bewildered as the rest of us. I looked back at Josh again. Looked like he had passed out. His eyes were dark with purple rings under them and he was extremely pale. His arm was still bleeding. "We have got to get him to a hospital!" I whispered to Paul. "Already headin' there babe" he whispered back. I sank into the leather seat and finally took a moment to breath and process. What was wrong with the man on the beach? Why would he attack that women, and then Josh? Were there more people like him? That was a question I really didn't want to know the answer to.

I must have fallen asleep, because what felt like hours later, Paul gently shook me awake. "Hey, we finally found a hospital. Let's see if anyone is in there." He parked in front of the emergency entrance. "You wait here, buddy, we're gonna get you some help!" He told Josh, looking concerned. I looked at Josh. He looked really bad! His skin was pale grey and pasty, his eyes were sunken in, and he was barely breathing. He looked dead already. The rest of us cautiously opened our doors, unsure of what may lie ahead. Paul gripped the tire iron so tightly his knuckles had turned white. We grouped together closely as we headed towards the sliding glass emergency doors. As we walked in, we were completely shell-shocked. It was like something straight out of a Romero movie! People were running, screaming "Get them off me!" and "Help me!" People were eating other people! "We have to help them!" Paul looked at me, desperately wanting to save each and every person. "No." I whispered calmly and quietly, trying not to attract unwanted attention. "We need to find help for Josh, not to mention find somewhere safe for the rest of us." "Umm guys!" Rose whispered nervously, "I think they're starting to take notice." We all looked up in unison, shock and fear covering our faces. Random "biters" were staring in our direction, mouths watering for our quickly, but quietly turned and again walked through those glass doors. Somehow we made it back to the Jeep without causing much of a disturbance. Once we were there, however, we found a new dilemma waiting for us. It seemed Josh had passed while we were inside. He had a thick red liquid running down his mouth, no doubt from vomiting blood. He was no longer breathing and his tongue hung loosely on his lips. As we rushed to unlock the door, something happened. Something we definitely had not expected! His eyes opened. He looked around hazely and when I saw his eyes, I realized they were the eyes of a dead man. "There's something wrong with him!" Rose exclaimed, noticing the same things I was. As we stood there watching the shell of our once vibrant friend, he finally noticed us. He moved towards the window quickly but awkwardly. Paul gripped the tire iron tighter, if that was possible, and raised his arms as if getting ready to swing a bat. Josh looked confused when he couldn't just keep going. I looked back for a split second and noticed the biters coming over towards the doors. "We've got get him out now!" I said looking to Paul. "Ok, count of three. Ready?" He looked at Rose, Aidan, and me. We nodded in unison.

"One…"  
"Two…"  
"Three!"

Paul whipped the door open and as Josh rushed through the opening, Paul swung the tire iron with all his might, aiming for Josh's head. He hit him so hard Josh flipped backwards. At the same time, I heard a loud cracking sound. His neck had snapped in half! As he layed sprawled on the ground, dead for a second time that day, we all stepped around him and jumped in the Jeep. Just as we began to drive away, a horde of the biters came pouring out through the emergency room doors. As we drove away, a thought occurred to me. "Paul?" I looked at Paul thoughtfully. "Why did you go straight for the head?" He grinned sheepishly. "I've seen enough horror to know, you always go for the brain!" I giggled at the irony of it all. A horror movie was coming to life right in front of our eyes! We had to get home. My dad would know what to do. He was always prepared for the worst! For the first time that day, it dawned on me that I had a cell phone resting in my back pocket. I hurriedly pulled it out and pushed the button for the microphone. "Call dad." I demanded. The phone made an awful beeping noise and a message came on the line. "We're sorry. All circuits are busy. Please try your call again later." It then simply disconnected. I tried three more times before finally giving up. "We have to get home to our families!" Everyone agreed quickly, suddenly concerned with "Old Aunt Ida" and "Fluffy". So off we headed to Oakland County, towards home. Were they quickly filling with the biters, too? Was my dad even ok? Did we have homes to come to?


	2. Chapter 2

A/N - Had a couple of comments about spacing so let me know if this works better. Hope you all enjoy!

"Call dad" I angrily commanded my Samsung Galaxy for what felt like the thousandth time. The phone dialed my dads cell but I got the same annoying beep followed by the same "all circuits are busy" message. I threw myself back against the leather seat and allowed myself to daydream as Paul drove towards home. I thought back to meeting Rose in the first grade. She was a rolly polly little thing and all the other girls picked on her. Little did they know! By tenth grade she was tall, blonde, and skinny as a supermodel. She joined the cheerleading squad that year and started dating Josh, who was the star of the football team. Coincidentally, I met Paul the same week and even though we weren't as popular as they were, we remained inseparable throughout high school. In the eleventh grade we met Aidan in a psychology class. We were so entertained by all his "theories", we adopted him into the group.

Aidan suddenly broke the silence, breaking me free of my perfect high school memories. "Does anyone even know where we are or how to get home?" Paul looked frustrated, but remained quiet. "I'm gonna take that as a 'no' then. Dude, stop at the next gas station, we'll get a map." "But what about those emthings/em?" I asked quietly. "Maybe they're only in that one area, ya know like a local outbreak?" answered Aidan. He didn't have that usual air of confidence we'd all become accustomed to and I thought again of my dad. Was he safe? Did he have any clue what was going on?

I yelled at my phone again, "Call dad!" But it was no use. The call refused to connect. At that moment we came across a "mom and pop's" type gas station. "Babe, pull over" I told my boyfriend. He did as I asked and we stopped at a pump. It was an old fashioned full serve pump and as we drove over the sensor, the bell dinged to let someone know we were here. We looked around impatiently but no one came out. Paul took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them he spoke quietly, solemnly. "We have to get in there and get a map or we're never going to make it home."

I looked down shamefully. It had been my idea to go to Mackinac for summer break. It seemed like a great way to relax after graduation. Now all I wanted was to get home, to feel safe again. Josh was dead, Rose was catatonic. How would we make it all the way home? It seemed so far away!

"Ok, what do we do?" I asked, looking for Paul to take the reigns. "Everybody look for a weapon. Something you can bash their brains in with." I shuddered at the thought of hurting anyone, but the infected weren't people anymore. I knew that now. I had watched Josh before and after the bite took his life. He didn't even recognize us. Aidan and I looked for something to protect ourselves with.

Rose sat still, not saying a word. She looked as if the light had been turned off in her brain. I watched as Aidan pulled at the heavy handle of the car jack. It broke free and he held it, looking quite satisfied with himself. I climbed through to the back and found the emergency roadside kit and dug out the flare gun and three flares. As I loaded the first flare, I turned to try and assess Rose. She had completely shut down.

"Rose..honey," I started cautiously. "We need to go inside and get some stuff. Can you move?" She just continued staring off, zoned out. I let out a sigh and threw up my hands. "Paul, what do we do with her?" I asked, thoroughly frustrated with everything going on. He looked Rose up and down and let out his own frustrated sigh. "Rose? You in there?" he asked, watching for the slightest reaction. She remained catatonic, not even a eye twitch. Come to think of it, I don't think she'd so much as blinked since we left that hospital.

I waved my hand in front of her. "Rose?" Nothing! Enough was enough! I smacked Rose across the face as hard as I could. Finally, she blinked. Then she cried. "Clem? What's going on? I don't understand. What's wrong with everybody? Those poor people! They were eating them! Oh my God, Clem! All those people!" She layed her head in my lap and just sobbed. I ran my fingers through her hair. "There, there Rose. It's going to be ok." She just cried harder.

I looked to Paul and Aidan. "I don't think she should go anywhere. I'll stay here with her. You guys go get that map. Look for bottled water while you're in there. Might not be safe to drink the water, but we need to stay hydrated." Paul looked at me, ready to argue, but instead sighed and said "ok". Aidan looked around the car one more time. When he didn't see anything, he nodded to Paul. "Let's go." They gripped their weapons tightly and opened their doors. They closed them quietly and walked towards the store door. As they stepped inside, I watched them disappear from my sight.

I looked down at my lap. Rose was still sobbing, ever so quietly. We sat there for what seemed like forever, Rose quietly crying, remembering every scream from that hospital. She trembled and shuddered at the thought of all those suffering people. "God, Clem! All those people! They ate them! How could they eat them? And Josh is dead! He's dead Clem! But he was still moving! How? How is that possible? I mean, once your dead, that's it! We don't get to come back!" She started crying harder and harder. She was definitely losing it!

Just then we heard a scream coming from inside the gas station. We both looked expectantly at the door. The guys came running out, screaming. And they weren't alone! Someone was running behind them. Or maybe I should say something. He looked hungry! He had one arm hanging by a thread but he ran at Paul and Aidan like a rabid dog, hungry for their warm flesh. Suddenly Rose jumped alive, rushing to open the car doors for the guys.

"Run guys! Get in here! Don't let him get you! Come on!" The biter seemed to be the only one who could hear her. He snapped his head and his attention towards Rose. As the biter ran towards the now open door, Paul noticed they were no longer being chased. He turned back towards the unknown assailant and struck him over the head repeatedly. After a minute or two the biter stopped moving. Rose sat frozen in fear, watching as Paul literally beat the man's head in. "Get back in the jeep! There are more of those things inside!"

We jumped back in, shutting the doors quickly, nervously looking around for more of emthem/em. Paul started the jeep. I noticed a biter coming out the door of the gas station, hazily looking around. She noticed us pulling away and ran towards the moving vehicle. She jumped in front of us. We heard a thump as Paul hit her, drove over her and kept on driving. I shuddered at the thought of the mangled body below us.

As we drove away, I looked in the passenger side mirror, and saw the mangled body twitch and squirm as she lifted her head. My mouth dropped as I watched her try to crawl towards us on her stomach. I nudged Paul and whispered, "This thing goes faster, right?" He looked over and winked. "No problem." He pressed harder on the gas pedal and we began to pick up speed, leaving that "thing", whatever it was, in the dust cloud that followed.


End file.
